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# Jim White: Manchester United victory in Champions League final will make up
for cost of a Wembley pie
## Midway through Wednesday's testimonial-stroll of a Champions League semi-
final at Old Trafford, the home crowd dusted off a favourite old chant.
"Whatever will be will be, we're going to Wemberlee, que sera sera."
![Jim White: Manchester United victory in the Champions League final will make
up for the cost of a Wembley pie][1]
Repeat attendance: the Champions League final will be Manchester United's
third trip to Wembley this season Photo: EPA
[![Jim White][2]][3]
By [Jim White][4] 6:00AM BST 06 May 2011
[Comments][5]
First heard on English terraces in the Seventies, this shamelessly rhymed
Doris Day mangle used to be unleashed to mark progress in domestic knockouts.
But in this instance it had wider resonance. Not only, thanks to Schalke's
supine opposition, are **[United][6]** heading to north London to play in the
final of European football's foremost **[competition][7]**, they are doing so
just a fortnight after Manchester City are due to play there in the **[FA
Cup][8]**.
Just as it did in 1968, when City were crowned league champions ahead of
United's last European showdown at the old Empire Stadium, the visit marks a
sizeable piece of neighbourly one-upmanship.
Yet, despite the vociferous name-check, for many United fans the trip to
Wembley will be viewed with ambivalence. It will be the third time the team
have played at the national stadium this season and frequent acquaintance has
tarnished the legend.
Any advantage to be accrued from familiarity will be forgotten amid the now-
standard gripes about transport difficulties, ticket availability and the
astronomic cost of securing a pie. Some too will be disappointed that the
final is not to be held in a more exotic location, offering the chance to
combine the football with a weekend abroad.
## Related Articles
* [Ferguson: I will seek advice from Mourinho][9]
05 May 2011
* [United must retain sense of club history and tradition to overcome
Bara][10]
05 May 2011
* [Man Utd v Chelsea preview][11]
06 May 2011
* ['We lacked courage', says Schalke chief][12]
05 May 2011
* [Mancini applauds United for reaching final][13]
05 May 2011
* ['We can put right 2009 Bara defeat'][14]
05 May 2011
Yet, compared to some recent venues that have hosted the match, Wembley
represents the most superior football watching experience.
There is no need there, for instance, to paint the playing surface green to
give it the appearance of being grass-covered as there was at the Luzhniki in
Moscow.
At Wembley, unlike the Olympic Stadium in Athens, there are turnstiles in
place to ensure those with tickets get in to the ground and those without
don't.
And at Wembley, unlike at Rome's Olympic Stadium, there is a possibility of
finding a seat that is less than 200 yards from the touchline.
But still we prefer to gripe. The place is a money pit, a folly, a monument to
misguided priority, we moan. It lacks atmosphere and authenticity. Oh and it
was built in the wrong place.
The truth is that the modern Wembley is as good a place to watch football as
can be found anywhere in Europe. The briefest of recall of what it used to be
like - the rivers of urine cascading down the steps, the woeful sightlines,
the fact that, if you were towards the back of the stands, you couldn't see
the winning captain lifting a trophy in the royal box - should banish all
complaint about its sleek modern incarnation.
Sure the atmosphere can be anodyne, all spontaneity crushed by a public
address announcer determined his choice of music can be enjoyed in Belgium.
But at least you don't get wet feet.
For Wembley itself, staging the event is of huge significance, though more in
terms of prestige than money. The FA's ruinous debt in building the place will
not be appreciably reduced, its income from the takings not much more than if
it were holding a concert by Take That.
Uefa will hoover up the lion's share of the receipts. Which, given that the
cheapest ticket will cost more than £80, will be substantial. And London Mayor
Boris Johnson's claim that the event will generate more than £300million in
the local economy is hard to verify. Though it seems unlikely even visiting
football fans will drink that much beer.
More important than finance, according to a Wembley spokesman, is the
opportunity it will give to showcase London's ability to stage world events.
If nothing else, a year ahead of the Olympics, the chance to have a live run
of security arrangements will be priceless.
And Wembley intends to mark its moment with due ceremony. There will be pre-
match entertainment, though apparently not as ambitious as the sub-Olympic
choreography on display in Moscow. Which will be a disappointment for those of
us whose idea of a good time is watching stilt walkers forming a human pyramid
in the centre circle.
United diehards, however, would be happy with no more than a march past by the
Dagenham Girl Pipers if it were the precursor to a win. If victory is achieved
in the London borough of Brent, the peripherals will quickly be forgotten. It
will taste as delicious as that delivered anywhere. Whatever the cost of the
pies.
**Expect Sir Alex to claim conspiracy **
Ahead of the Champions League final, Sir Alex Ferguson has revealed that he
intends to quiz Jose Mourinho on how to play against Barcelona.
Which means we can look forward to a game at Wembley on May 28 in which
Ferguson's United park the bus in front of goal, incessantly harass the
referee and have a player sent off before the manager himself is dispatched to
the stands for making sarcastic comment to the fourth official.
Then, in the after-match press conference Ferguson will reveal that the plot
of Dan Brown's next bestseller is to centre on the worldwide conspiracy to
gift the Catalans the Champions League trophy in perpetuity. Or does Mourinho
have more to offer than a surfeit of spite?
**Now trending: the half and half scarf **
There is a bizarre new trend among football watchers: the half and half match
souvenir scarf. One half Manchester United, the other half Schalke, they were
on sale all round Old Trafford ahead of Wendesday's semi-final and were being
sported by hundreds. As a business venture they seemed to be going very well.
Though you imagine it would be a brave entrepreneur indeed who ordered a
warehouse full of half and halves just ahead of the next encounter between
United and Liverpool.
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## [Manchester United][6]
* ### [Sport »][20]
* ### [Jim White »][3]
* ### [Football »][21]
* ### [Champions League »][7]
Related Partners
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In sport
[![Barcelona v Manchester United: Champions League final live ][23] ][24]
### [Champions League final: live][24]
[![Darren Ferguson - Champions League final 2011: 'Sir Alex Ferguson got up at
6.30am to open The Cliff, but no one else was there'][25] ][26]
### ['Dad got here by sheer hard work'][26]
[![Wayne Rooney must show the world his talent in the Champions League final,
says Alan Smith][27] ][28]
### [Time for Rooney to bestride world stage][28]
[![Champions League final: Manchester United goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar's
giant gloves 'impossible' to fill][29] ][30]
### [Van der Sar's gloves 'impossible' to fill][30]
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